DAVID SEYMOUR: Implementing ONE LAW for ALL in the public service
- Administrator
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Below is a summary but the speech itself - and following questions from the media - is well worth watching and listening to. (Listen by clicking on the white arrow above).
"New Zealanders pay for the public service to deliver better education, healthcare, public safety, infrastructure, and essential government services. This Government has gone some way to fixing it with the Need not Race circular, but years of previous governments embedding co-governance and race-based approaches mean there's still much more to do.
To unlock New Zealand’s potential we need one law for all, and one future together.
ACT will reset the public service around the basic principles of equal treatment, individual freedom, political and religious neutrality, and accountability for results.
First, ACT will end race-based hiring requirements by repealing section 73 of the Public Service Act. The public service should have the same employment rules as any other business. Health and safety, non-discrimination and and disability rights are already covered elsewhere in the law.
Public service jobs should go to the best person for the job, regardless of race. Hiring and promotion should be based on merit, skills, experience, and what the role actually requires.
Second, ACT will legally enforce need before race in the delivery of public services.
There is already a Cabinet expectation that services should be delivered according to need rather than race. ACT will give that principle real teeth by writing it into the Public Service Act.
Agencies will be required by law to follow the principle, and decisions that breach it could be challenged through judicial review.
If two New Zealanders have the same need, they should be entitled to the same treatment from government.
Third, ACT will separate spiritual practices from public service work.
Nobody should be expected to take part in a prayer, karakia, or other spiritual practice because they work for the Government. Taxpayers should not be required to fund staff time or other resources for employer-initiated spiritual activity either.
ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace.
Public servants will remain free to practise their own religion, culture, or traditions in their own time, with reasonable accommodation where appropriate.
Fourth, ACT will remove irrelevant cultural requirements from public service jobs.
A person applying to work for the Government should be judged on whether they can do the job, not their knowledge of particular cultural concepts, values, or worldviews unless there is a genuine occupational reason for doing so.
ACT will direct public service agencies to remove those requirements from job advertisements and position descriptions where they are not relevant to the role, through a clear letter of expectations to the Public Service Commissioner and a Cabinet circular.
We will ensure a public service capable of unlocking the potential of all New Zealanders. It will be neutral, professional, focused on results, and treat every person as an individual."
David Seymour is ACT Party leader
David Seymour is absolutely right about the destination, but I think ACT needs to go considerably further. Changing the rules around race, need, cultural requirements and workplace practices will not by itself dismantle a public service culture that has become self-selecting and self-reproducing. ACT needs to focus on the institutional machinery itself, who appoints and holds senior executives accountable, how agencies are structured, how people are recruited and promoted, what outcomes they are measured against, and which functions and programmes actually need to exist. That means being prepared for substantial restructuring, including removing or merging agencies, changing senior leadership where necessary and accepting some short-term disruption. The objective should not be to replace one ideological public service with another, but…
Excellent policy.
It's simple and straightforward so even the most biased public service boss can understand it.
I like the ability to enforce it in law..
Neil Harrap
In other words an egalitarian society, pure and simple
Sounds logical that the best person gets the job. The only problem is the inability of the typical NZ beaurecrat leader to recognise " best"
There must be space to allow diverse cultures in workplaces, because different cultures bring different perspectives on "best". And diversity of thought is a basic requirement for innovative wise scope thought and strategy development. Seymour's never lead a corner dairy, let alone a successful pioneering business that has innovated and succeeded through all new thinking and tactics.
Who in their right mind would listen to a little twit with no actual leadership fruit who is basically saying narrow the thinking sets for a better business? What a Dumbo!!
Fantastic and long overdue! There is just so much apathy out there but underlying it all is the sense that what is around at the moment is just so wrong. Look forward to many more such announcmments from ACT. Well done Dave Seymour!! Vote ACT!!